Frequently Asked Questions
General Info About the Software
- Who created this software?
- For whom is this software designed?
- What is the purpose of this software?
- On what scholarly sources is this software based?
- What if I'm not familiar with IPA symbols?
- What are the limitations of the free trial version?
- What IPA font is used to display the IPA symbols?
- How much text will the program transcribe at a time?
Issues with Transcriptions
- Why is the transcription produced by IPANow! slightly different from the way I was taught?
- How does IPANow! handle words of foreign origin (i.e., a word of French origin that occurs in German)?
- Does the software transcribe French vocalic harmonization, causing some normally-open French vowels to be closed?
- How does IPANow! handle open and closed "e"s and "o"s in Italian?
- How does the program handle final schwas in French?
- Does the program allow for liaison and elision in French?
- Does the program allow for phrasal doubling in Italian?
- How do I enter diacritics and other special characters associated with a particular language?
- If I misspell a word in the foreign text, will IPANow! automatically correct it?
- What forms of Latin does IPANow! transcribe?
Editing, Printing, and Emailing Transcriptions
- How do I print the transcription I've created?
- Can I manually edit a transcription that I create using IPANow!?
- Can I email the transcriptions once I've exported them?
Customer Service and Technical Support
- I purchased the software over 24 hours ago but I haven't received a link. What's the problem?
- If I am not totally satisfied with this product, can I return it for a refund?
- What payment methods do you accept?
- Instead of downloading the software from your website, can you mail me a CD-ROM with the software on it?
- How do I get technical support for this product?
- I teach at an educational institution, and I'd like to have IPANow! installed in our computer lab. Can we purchase multiple licenses at a discount?
Miscellaneous
- What are your plans for later versions of this software?
- Is there a version of this software for Macintosh?
- Will this software run on Windows Vista?
General Info About the Software
Q. Who created this software?
IPANow! was created by a doctoral candidate in choral conducting at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro School of Music. He taught high school choral music for four years before pursuing a D.M.A. in Choral Conducting. He has conducted choirs at the collegiate level and has taught Italian and English diction, choral conducting, and class voice.
Q. What is the purpose of this software?
It has come to our attention that many undergraduate vocal music curricula devote too little time to the study of lyric diction. Some institutions only offer a semester-long overview of all four languages; others do not offer diction at all. Even those that dedicate a semester to each language end up spending a great deal time teaching students how to transcribe texts into phonetics, when the most important skill for vocalists is learning to negotiate the subtleties of prononciation within each language and coordinating those subtleties with the singing voice. It is our hope that IPANow! will allow students to dedicate more time to this essential aspect of lyric diction.
Q. For whom is this software designed?
IPANow! is designed as a lyric diction resource for choral conductors, professional vocalists, church musicians and music educators, but anyone can use it.
Q. On what scholarly sources is this software based?
IPANow! is based on material from standard lyric diction texts such as A Handbook of Diction for Singers by David Adams, the Lyric Diction Workbook series by Cheri Montgomery, A Singer's Manual of German and French Diction by Richard Cox, Singers' Italian by Evelina Colorni, and Diction by John Moriarty.
Q. What if I'm not familiar with IPA symbols?
This software includes an IPA primer (in PDF format) which is accessible from the Help menu. The primer provides pronunciation tips for each of the IPA symbols used in the program.
Q. What are the limitations of the free trial version?
The trial version will only transcribe up to 100 characters of text at a time. Also, the clipboard copy and export functions are disabled. However, there is no time limit for using the trial.
Q. What IPA font is used to display the IPA symbols?
IPANow! utilizes the IPA-SAM fonts which are freely available from the UCL Department of Linguistics website. There are three font faces available: Doulos (similar to Times), Sophia (Sans-Serif), and Manuscript (similar to Courier). The fonts are automatically installed along with the IPANow! software.
Q. How much text will the program transcribe at a time?
The full version of IPANow! will transcribe approximately 5,000 characters at a time, which is approximately 1,000 words.
Issues with Transcriptions
Q. Why is the transcription produced by IPANow! slightly different from the way I was taught?
There are a number of reasons why the transcription might be different:
- First of all, there is disagreement among vocalists as to the "correct" pronunciation of certain foreign words. Thus, in some cases there is no one correct answer.
- Second, there are some words that are spelled the same but pronounced differently. For example, consider the English noun "wind" and the English verb "wind." These "heteronyms" occur in other languages, too, and the present version of IPANow! is unable to distinguish them.
- Third, there are some instances in which a particular musical setting may alter the way a text is sung. In one composer's text setting, the rhythmic values applied to each text syllable may differ from another composer's setting, resulting in subtle differences in pronunciation. The sound [i] might become [j], or the sound [u] might become [w] in a particular setting. In these instances, manual intervention may be necessary.
- Finally, the task of transcribing foreign languages into phonetic symbols is no simple task, even for a computer. We admit that IPANow! is not an absolutely perfect program. . .but we think we're pretty close. If you find a word that you know it's transcribing incorrectly, please contact us so we can correct it for future versions of the program.
Q. How does IPANow! handle words of foreign origin (i.e., a word of French origin that occurs in German)?
Some words that have been pre-entered into the program will be transcribed correctly, but generally speaking, IPANow! will attempt to transcribe the foreign word using rules for the regular language. However, you can manually edit any words that are transcribed incorrectly by exporting the transcription in Rich Text Format (.rtf) and opening it using a word processor.
Q. Does the software transcribe French vocalic harmonization, causing some normally-open French vowels to be closed?
The current version of IPANow! does not transcribe vocalic harmonization, but we hope to add it in future versions.
Q. How does IPANow! handle open and closed "e"s and "o"s in Italian?
Since users have varying preferences for open and closed vowels in Italian, our program offers three options. It can transcribe all "e"s and "o"s open, transcribe them all closed, or it can be set to make an educated guess based on common prefixes and suffixes that always utilize a certain vowel quality.
Q. How does the program handle final schwas in French?
Since final schwas in French are only sung if the composer gives the schwa a note value, IPANow! gives users the option of adding parentheses around final schwas.
Q. Does the program allow for liaison and elision in French?
Yes, it automatically adds these into the transcription. In instances where liaison or elision should not occur because of a rest in the music, simply enter any of the following punctuation marks between the two words, preventing the program from creating a liaison or elision: comma, period, colon, semicolon.
Q. Does the program allow for phrasal doubling in Italian?
Yes, it includes an option to add phrasal doubling into the transcription. In instances where phrasal doubling should not occur because of a rest in the music, simply enter any of the following punctuation marks between the two words, preventing the program from creating a liaison or elision: comma, period, colon, semicolon.
Q. How do I enter diacritics and other special characters associated with a particular language?
The IPANow! interface includes several easily-accessible buttons for inserting these symbols into the text so you can type in words that contain these characters quickly.
Q. If I misspell a word in the foreign text, will IPANow! automatically correct it?
In the current version, you must type the word correctly (including diacritical marks) or the transcription may be skewed.
Q. What forms of Latin does IPANow! transcribe?
The current version supports both the Italianate and Germanic pronunciations of Latin, since vocalists primarily use these two. Classical Latin pronunciation is not supported at this time.
Editing, Printing, and Emailing Transcriptions
Q. How do I print the transcription I've created?
You cannot print the transcription from within the program. In order to print a transcription, you must first export it as a Rich-Text File (.RTF). Then open the .RTF file in MS Word or most any other word processing application. From there, you can manually edit it (if necessary) and print it.
Q. Can I manually edit a transcription that I create using IPANow!?
Certainly! We hope that you won't have to do much editing, but you can edit an exported transcription using a word processor like MS Word. If you would like to learn about the keyboard layout for the IPA-SAM fonts, please visit this page: UCL Phonetics & Linguistics Page on SAMPA
Q. Can I email the transcriptions once I've exported them?
You can email them only to someone who has the IPA-SAM fonts installed on his/her computer. Currently, the program exports transcriptions in Rich Text Format (.rtf), and if the recipient doesn't have the IPA-SAM fonts installed, the IPA characters will not display properly. However, if you have a program that can convert it to an Adobe PDF, you should be able to email your transcription to anyone who has the free Adobe Reader software.
Customer Service and Technical Support
Q. I purchased the software over 24 hours ago but I haven't yet received a link. What's the problem?
First, remember that the link will be sent to the email address associated with your Paypal account. Be certain this is the email address you are checking. Second, if you have a spam filter active, check your spam box for an email from "sales@ipanow.com" that may have gotten filtered. If neither of these solutions helps, please contact us.
Q. If I am not totally satisfied with this product, can I return it for a refund?
If you contact us within 30 days of your purchase, we are happy to provide you a full refund.
Q. What payment methods do you accept?
Currently you may pay using your Paypal account or with a major credit card (through Paypal).
Q. Instead of downloading the full version of IPANow! from your website, can you mail me a CD-ROM with the software on it?
Yes. Simply select that option when making your purchase and we will be happy to mail you an installation CD. An additional $5.00 shipping cost will be added to your total.
Q. How do I get technical support for this product?
Simply email technical support and we will get back with you as soon as possible.
Q. I teach at an educational institution, and I'd like to have IPANow! installed in our computer lab. Can we purchase multiple licenses at a discount?
Yes. Please view this PDF which contains our pricing structure for multiple licenses.
Miscellaneous
Q. What are your plans for later versions of this software?
We hope to expand the scope of IPANow! by adding other foreign languges including Spanish, Polish, Czech, and Russian.
Q. Is there a version of this software for Macintosh?
Not currently. However, there are future plans in the works for a Macintosh version.
Q. Will this software run on Windows Vista?
Yes, but see this special note for Vista users.
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